Date
Inquiry

Our project is an electronics manufacturing facility with approximately 800 employees. The management of the company and their corporation would like this facility to have adequate anti-bacterial soap onsite in case of health related outbreaks such as MRSA and avian flu. It also helps reduce the spread of illnesses such as regular flu and colds which reduce absenteeism, which could be significant for highly populated facilities like ours. At this time we had purchased a significant amount of anti-bacterial hand soap to ensure that we have the needed large quantities onsite. One of the requirements in EQc10.3 calls for "the use of hand soaps that do not contain antimicrobial agents (other than as a preservative system), except where required by health codes and other regulations (i.e., food service and health care requirements)". We understand that the intent of this requirement is to reduce regular exposure of building occupants to potentially hazardous chemical, biological and particle contaminants, which adversely impact air quality, health and the environment. To pursue this credit, our plan is to store the anti-bacterial soap we already have on site as part of our Disaster Contingency Plan only to be used in case of a defined emergency situation. In this case, the anti-bacterial soap we have purchased will not go to waste. We feel that maintaining sufficient quantities of anti-bacterial soap on-site to cope with emergency situations should not disqualify our project from achieving this credit. It is not the storage but the regular use of such soaps that is regulated by the requirements of this credit. Please confirm whether our plan meets the requirements of this credit.

Ruling

The intent of LEED-EBv2.0 EQc10.3 is to reduce regular exposure of building occupants to potentially hazardous chemical, biological and particle contaminants, which adversely impact air quality, health and the environment. For antibacterial soap, the main adverse environment impact is the growing resistance of microbial agents to antibiotics through the increased exposure of microbial agents to antibacterial products. The use of 100% alcohol-based hand sanitizers has been shown to be just as effective as antibacterial soap without this additional negative environmental effect. The storage of the existing antibacterial soap on site would be acceptable as part of your Disaster Contingency Plan only to be used in case of a defined emergency situation such as health related outbreaks as long as a signed narrative statement is submitted that declares:

Internationally Applicable
On
Campus Applicable
Off